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John Davis Chandler

Birthdate

January 28, 1935

Birthplace

Hinton, West Virginia, United States

Deathdate

February 16, 2010

Deathplace

Toluca Lake, California, United States

Nationality

United States

Character actor John Davis Chandler, who made a career out of villainous turns, was on the pre-med track at Princeton before joining the U.S. Army and discovering his passion for performing. He trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and made his film debut in 1961, landing the title role in the chilling biopic of a 1930s gangster, "Mad Dog Coll." This established his niche as an excellent on-screen weasel, and soon he was scoring numerous roles playing underhanded criminals. Perhaps most memorably, he played a menacing cowboy named Jimmy Hammond in Sam Peckinpah's Western "Ride the High Country" and the sneering gang leader, Bleak, in the 1980s action-comedy "Adventures in Babysitting." When not playing notable heavies, Chandler balanced his film roles with one-offs on a variety of popular television programs, from the docudrama crime series "The Untouchables" to the superhero saga "The Incredible Hulk" to the science-fiction spin-off "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." He made his final onscreen appearance on the last, ending a career that spanned nearly 40 years. Chandler died in 2010, a victim of cancer, but his legacy lives on in his characters, whom audiences love to hate.